Just Some Reflections

The collective consciousness of society would browbeat one into thinking that most others are inferior and inherently competing for something like honor or recognition.

It's a good thing that isn't true.

This listserve, like the real world, is a better portrayal of how much more kind, thoughtful, and accepting people actually are. Of course, we aren't utopian yet, and I see things in people's characters that I think to myself often, but now have a place to widely broadcast!

The founder of western philosophy said, "I know one thing, that I know nothing." Yet many people I meet (including myself) can think that there's something you know, something that sets oneself apart, that somehow lends authority to judge or critique someone else's beliefs, actions, or decisions.

May I humbly suggest that none of us know the inner workings of every human heart. Religious zealots may have been indoctrinated, the poor may be so because they support others, and the classically uneducated may be wiser than their lack of a degree may evince.

If I could share something from my life experience that I think could help all of you, it would be to not only to treat people justly and rightly, but also with respect. I've had personal experiences with people who, in retrospect, have been astonishingly wiser than I, but who were easy to dismiss because they had learned that wisdom is its own qualifier, and weren't competing for something as fleeting as honor or recognition.